"Took you long enough." Scarus leaned against the doorframe, one hand raised in a knocking-motion while the other held an envelope.
He was drenched, his dark auburn hair was wet and covered most of his face until he moved it out the way to get a good look at Sera. She was alarmed by his appearance and at first thought he was bleeding from his head. It took her a second to recover..
"Were you sleeping or..." Drifting off when he smelt a familiar metallic stench, he immediately noticed Sera's hand. "What happened?" He tried to grab her hand; she pulled away like she always did.
Forcing a hollow smile on her face, she greeted him. "Sorry, I was working on some bouquets and arrangements...took me a while to get to the door."
Her words felt like an excuse to him but remembering the letter in his hand, he tried his best not to be rude. "What happened to your hand?" He reached for her hand and this time she let him check her injured right hand.
"What happened to your face?" She asked in turn, noticing the deep cut above his brow.
He stiffened at her question, thinking she was asking about the scar but then he paused to think, lightly touching the cut above brow. His face twisted into a complicated look and his appearance reminded her of an abandoned dog left out in the rain.
He almost looked pitiful.
Quickly she discarded the thought. He came from a wealthy family and most of all he was the guard the President chose for her; she was the one who deserved the pity not him.
"I asked first."
"So you did."
Scarus' tried to peek inside her apartment but Sera blocked his view with her body. He shifted his attention and took note of her appearance. Unlike his drenched pathetic self, she was dressed in warm and comfortable clothes. A pale yellow satin dress with a white wooly cardigan that fell off one shoulder, exposing her skin.
He reached out and pulled the other shoulder before muttering something about her catching a cold. "I thought you had a family event." Sera kept her gaze on him, studying him carefully. After all, it wasn't like him to show out of the blue.
Exhaling, he looked away as if her words had burned him. "...I left early."
She didn't believe him but then again, he knew she didn't care enough to press him for more. It was so like her to leave others alone and keep to herself. Then again, he walked himself into the situation when he chose to focus only on his idol, Huxley Foret rather than his charge but now somehow, his charge had managed to grab his attention or some of it, at least.
Sera shifted on her feet a little when she heard the sound of a door closing and opening. Inwardly, she was cursing Finnick. She asked him to do one thing and one thing: to hide. "Really? You left early. Did something happen?" She started to speak, trying to mask the sound of Finnick's footsteps and doctored a concerned look on her face.
To Scarus' surprise, she actually looked concerned. Maybe it was the slight rising fever from being drenched in the rain or it was his guilt towards mistreating her, he didn't believe she actually showed some concern until she repeated her words.
"Nothing happened." But something did happen. She had a feeling it was his parents, most likely his mother. He really didn't have a good relationship with his mother, something he never hid from anyone, especially not her. "I just wanted to leave early."
She nodded, understanding he didn't want to talk about it. "Is everything okay? It's not like you to show up at...my apartment on our day off."
For a second he didn't say anything. Awkwardly, he stared at her and opened his mouth before closing it, hesitating to speak or trying the right words to say without hurting her feelings. "Would you like to have...dinner with me?" He delicately asked.
Raising her brows, she stared at him. Her bright eyes dulled a little as she assessed him head to toe, checking if he really was her guard. "You're...asking me for dinner?"
"I didn't stutter."
With a nervous laugh, she tucked her hair behind her ear. "No, I was...just surprised to hear you ask me out for dinner."
"I suppose we're not that close to have dinner together."
"No. We're not." She answered with a hollow smile. He was used to her hollow smiles but they never surprised him, he wasn't good to her before and she remembered. "Mmmm. Besides I already had dinner, you know I have to take my medicine on time."
For some reason, he looked disappointed. He sucked in a breath and looked down at his hands before he reached inside his coat and pulled out an envelope. The envelope was a little yellowed and creased, so different from her usual letter. She had a feeling it wasn't from anyone in the Capitol.
"You have a letter."
"Another schedule?" He hesitated looking at her face which had shifted, revealing just how tired she had been. "Icarus?" She called out to her guard who stood silently staring at her like she was a glass doll who'd break with one push. "Icarus." He jolted awake and nodded. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just not used to being called Icarus by anyone."
"Isn't that your name?"
Of course nobody actually called him by his given birth name unless it was scornfully. The President only referred to him by his family name as did most of his colleagues. Rest of the people called him Scarus, the name his mother bestowed upon him in one of her anger-filled fits.
"It is." He answered somberly. "It's my name but it seems everyone forgets...but you."
The corners of Sera's lips turned upwards and she smiled. He was taken aback by the sudden gesture and looked away. "If you don't like me calling you Icarus—"
"No! I mean 'no'. I don't mind at all." It felt nice to be called by his name, not 'Scarus', the despised eldest son of the Redcliffs or the youngest of the Elite Guards but 'Icarus', the name he was born with.
"What happened to your face?" She asked again, being very careful to distract him from discovering Finnick inside her apartment. He grumbled something under his breath about his family, she didn't care to decipher.
Carefully, she reached up and touched his face. He didn't swat her hands away or move. He stilled, letting her check on his wound before she pulled back her hand. He almost missed it before he snapped out of it and scowled at her.
"We should go somewhere or I should come inside." He moved his head towards her apartment. "I think it'd be better for us–for me to tell you this in private in a more...calmer environment."
"Tell me what exactly?" She folded her arms around herself.
Again he was a little nervous, so unlike him. He licked his dry lips and hesitated, trying to find the right words to tell her. "The contents of the letter. I think it's best if we talk about it."
"I appreciate whatever your concern is but I'm sure I can handle it."
"Here." He handed her the letter and took large steps back, distancing himself from her. There was some redness creeping up his face, dying his pale face a light pink. How amusing. "I've already checked it and everything. Can I come in?"
Looking back at her apartment, she turned to gaze at him before motioning to what she was wearing. "Now?" She questioned, hoping he'd get the message. "It's not a good time."
"I was about to go to bed soon."
He almost didn't believe until he remembered she wouldn't lie about something so simple and it wasn't like her to lie. She was brighter than that and knew not to lie. "Then...take care and make sure to lock up properly."
"Icarus." She lay her head against the door and looked up at him. He turned to meet her gaze. "...Thank you for dropping by, I know you must've been busy."
"No. I wasn't busy, not at all." He tried again to peek inside her apartment but his gaze lingered on her before he nodded at her and left. "If you need anything—"
"I'll call." She finished with a hollow smile and waved him off. He kept his gaze on her as he went down the elevator.
Anxiously, she watched as the elevator kept going down before finally it stopped at the ground floor. Then she started to count backwards before finally going back inside to her apartment.
"Is he gone?" Finnick called out, once she was back inside.
Sera swiftly closed the door and locked it behind her. "What is wrong with you?" She turned around and lightly punched his uninjured shoulder. "It's like you want to be discovered."
Even though she was furious, he wasn't sorry. His lips turned upwards and he grinned foolishly at her outburst. "Hey, I'm still injured and it's hard to move for someone like me."
"You were fine earlier." She remarked.
"No...I wasn't."
"Right."
Finnick's grin faded when he noticed the bloody bandage on Sera's hand. He grabbed her hand into his and looked up at her with wide eyes. "What happened to your hand?"
She hesitated before she answered. "I cut myself."
"And why would you do that?"
"Take a guess."
"Huh. You wanted to throw the dog off my scent—how kind. But," He started to unwrap the bandage before gently dragging her to the living room where the First Aid box was again sitting on the sofa. It was already open. He took a pre-cut bandage and carefully wrapped it around her hand after he had cleaned her wound. "Don't ever do that again. It's dangerous."
"More dangerous than you being caught." She fired back, annoyed how he decided to go against her words and march around her apartment without a care in the world.
Exhaling, he let her hand drop. "I'd rather get caught than have someone die for me." But she didn't. She'd rather let someone die for her than get caught. Selfish? Very much so but she didn't care. She wanted to live. "Please tell me you didn't injure your throwing hand."
She rolled her eyes. How reckless did he think she was? She took a seat on the sofa and he followed her, sitting next to her. She kicked her feet off the ground and tucked it under her. "I'm not as reckless as you think I am to hurt my throwing hand."
"Could've fooled me."
She did fool him. Before she answered his question, he was very anxious, probably blaming himself for her pain. Silly. She hurt herself, not him. "So when are you leaving?"
He chuckled. "Ouch, you're trying to throw me out into the street."
"You live across the hall."
"And I'm injured...really badly." He reminded her, motioning towards his bandaged chest and back. "What if I die?"
"From walking across the hall?" He nodded.
She rolled her eyes and he grinned. She just gave up, it was impossible to carry on. "What's that?" He pointed to the envelope in her hand.
"A letter for me apparently." She answered before her attention was stolen by the television. On the screen, Zephyr was fighting for his life. "How long has this been going on?"
"Ten minutes, give or take." Finnick breathed out.
Keeping one eye on the screen, she ran her finger over the thick envelope. "Are you going to open it?"
"I will." Sucking in a breath, she carefully opened the envelope and unfolded the letter. Her eyes brightened when she saw who the letter was from, her sister and Huxley. She read it with a bright smile on her face.
Her face paled with each word she read and her eyes kept going over one paragraph at the bottom of the letter right before Talissa ended the letter.
'Aunt Dahlia's sickness has gotten worse. Nothing I do seems to work anymore. Miel and I fear this could be it. We haven't told Nox yet and we weren't going to tell you but it's serious, Sera. Come home soon. I know you're busy but please come home if you can.
We need you.'
"Is everything okay?"
"No." She answered, swallowing the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. "My aunt...she's sick."
On the screen, a stone boar charged towards the last tribute. The girl from One, took out a cross-bow and aimed it at the charging boar. Her sharp arrows bounced off the boar's rock-hard exterior. She kept firing and backing away; she ran out of arrows and she had no choice but to throw her bow at the boar.
Unfortunately, like her previous attempts, her last attempt was also futile. The stone boar charged towards her and ripped her to shreds. Her blood rained down on the dessert floor with echoes of shrieks.
Her screams echoed throughout the arena and from Sera's television making her reach for the remote and hurriedly turn down the volume.
Zephyr watched the scene unfold, covering his mouth with his hands, his eyes wide with disbelief as if he hadn't planned it all out. Sera almost let out a laugh seeing the way he was acting but held herself back, the final cannon hadn't been heard yet. There were still moments left before his victory.
Boom.
The last cannon echoed loudly on the screen. Zephyr fell to the floor as the 'sky' crackled and Claudius Templesmith's overexcited voice was heard. "Ladies and Gentlemen, closing of another decade of the Hunger Games—we give you the winner of the Sixty-Ninth Hunger Games. Zephyr Nikolas!"
A loud piercing sound deafened her and she couldn't move. The letter slipped from her fingers, falling to the floor. Oh. Zephyr won but she didn't feel happy. She tried to, she really did.
Every time she tried to force herself to be happy, she remembered how he was doomed to either lead her life or Finnick's. Hers was a little easier and she knew Zephyr would do better than her.
Finnick couldn't muster a smile or even joke around once he noticed how still Sera had gone. The two stayed in silence. If the letter hadn't made her upset, Zephyr's win certainly did.